Worrals on the War-Path/plot
Chapter 1: Worrals Has an Idea Worrals has an idea to use one of the remote plateaus in the Cevennes as a refuelling stop for fighters so that they could be ferried to Malta quickly instead of being sent by ship. Squadron Leader Yorke likes the idea and Air Commodore Raymond, now in charge of Special Operations, approves it. Worrals knows the area well and is willing to undertake the mission of preparing the landing ground but Raymond wants some local French support so they decide to activate Lucien, Vicomte de la Rose, a French agent whom Worrals had worked with before. Chapter 2: A Song in the Night Worrals and Frecks are parachuted into the Cevennes where they make a night rendezvous with Lucien. He has also brought along his friend, another of Worral's old comrades, Raoul, marquis de Saronceau, Lucien takes them to a house he has rented in Carnac, under the cover of being a painter. Later that night, Lucien and Raoul are visited by Edmund Duclos, the local gendarme whom everybody suspected of being a Vichy spy. He tells the two men that two strangers had been spotted making their way across the Cevennes. Chapter 3: Death Strikes in the Mountains The next morning, Worrals, Frecks and Lucien make their way up to the Causse Mejean, the plateau which Worrals had identified as suitable for the landing ground. They put their kit down in a cave nearby--then suddenly they hear a gunshot. Still puzzling about this, Lucien departs for Carnac. Not long after, Raoul runs up to the plateau looking for Lucien. There is bad news: Duclos has been shot. Chapter 4: Alarming Events Worrals goes back down to Carnac to give Lucien the news. They decide that with the police likely to come looking for Duclos, Lucien had better hide on the plateau also. But when they return to the cave, they discover that Frecks and Raoul have disappeared. Chapter 5: Worrals Meets a Friend Worrals and Lucien are captured by some armed men. It turns out that they are Camisards, members of the French resistance based in the Cevennes who had been hiding in the limestone caves which run extensively inside the plateau. They had earlier captured Frecks and Raoul. The four are taken before the assembled Camisards who think they are spies. The situation gets tense but just then a man arrives. He is Louis Capelle, formerly Worrals' guide when she was there before the war and he convinces the rest that they are genuine British operatives. The Camisards agree to help them and for her part, Worrals promises that they would be supplied with weapons and explosives for their sabotage work. Chapter 6: Shocks The next day Louis brings bad news. The police have arrived in Carnac. They have found the bicycles which Lucien and Raoul have used and have identified the owners. Lucien, not knowing this, had gone back to Carnac to fetch a painting he had made of the Causse--he was afraid this might give their position away. He bumps into the police and is arrested and taken to the police post at La Malene. Worrals sets off to rescue him, leaving Frecks in charge. Chapter 7: At La Malene Worrals poses as Lucien's girlfried and breaks him out of the police post at La Malene. They leave the building just as a French general and a Gestapo man arrive. Worrals steals their car and speeds out of the village. Just outside they hit a roadblock--but all is well. It's the Camisards. Louis had detailed men to provide overwatch and Worrals and Lucien are taken back to the Causse Mejean. Chapter 8: An Unwelcome Visitor That night, Bill Ashton arrives in a Whitley and drops off a load of fuel and some food. The next morning there are unwelcome visitors on the plateau: Worrals spots the French general and some policemen whom she had held up at the station. But there is one more man in civilian clothes: her arch enemy Hauptmann Wilhelm von Brandisch! Chapter 9: On Thin Ice Louis wants to kill the visitors but Worrals believes killing von Brandisch will merely bring a whole regiment of German troops into the area. Von Brandisch is studying the painting Lucien has made and then heads off towards some distant mountains, the subject of the painting rather than looking behind him where the painter was standing. But Worrals knows he will be back again once he realises his mistake. Von Brandisch leaves three men on the plateau so Worrals decides to kidnap them and have Bill Ashton fly them back to England on his next supply run. Bill turns up late at night and drops off more fuel and some weapons for the Camisards. He takes on the prisoners but he has a surprise for Worrals: a squadron of Spitfires are due to arrive in two hours. Chapter 10: An Unexpected Guest The squadron of Spitfires go through smoothly and Worrals and the others are gathering in the landing lights but its too late. They hear aircraft engines: someone else has spotted the lights and intends to land. It turns out to be a Messerschmitt Me 110 out on a training flight. Worrals has no choice but to take the pilot prisoner. Chapter 11: Worrals Takes a Trip The next morning, Worrals is still wondering what to do with the stranded German aircraft when it is spotted by a Me 109 search plane. Some German mechanics arrive on the plateau. Worrals dresses up as a shepherd girl and tells the Germans the pilot must have gone to a village to find a telephone. When the Germans try to flirt with her, Worrals has to distract them, so she asks the unteroffizier if she can have a look at the cockpit. But soon more people arrive on the plateau. There's von Brandisch and then a German light trainer with a spare pilot to fly the Me 110 off. Worrals is trapped, hiding in the cockpit and has no choice--she starts the engines and takes off. Chapter 12: A Chapter of Adventures Worrals heads south and crash lands in the Camargue when she runs out of fuel. With the help of a gardien, a Camargue cattle herder, she is given a lift to a road where she meets a policeman on a motorcycle. He is out looking for a crashed aircraft so Worrals points him to the Camargue. When he goes off, she steals his motorcycle and heads back to the Cevennes. Chapter 13: Making for the Mountains Worrals passes through Nimes and Alais and heads for Florac. Her motorbike runs out of fuel and she hitches a ride on a truck. But it turns out to be loaded with Germans (or so she thought) disguised as French troops. They tell her they are bound for La Malene and have a job to clear the region of spies. At La Malene, Worrals narrowly escapes meeting the policemen there and heads for the Causse Mejean. She reaches it but can't find the cave! Then she hears von Brandisch somewhere in the darkness. Chapter 14: Frecks Takes Charge Meanwhile, with Worrals gone, Frecks knows she has to take charge. She expects von Brandisch to search the causse thoroughly so she asks Louis to get his men to block up the entrance to the cave. They spot von Brandisch coming to the causse alone but he is soon joined by four men arriving on a Junkers commercial plane who Brandisch posts as sentries. Bill is due to arrive soon with his Whitley so Frecks needs to move the Junkers out of the way. She sends Louis to silently take care of the sentries. Meanwhile see steals on board the Junkers Chapter 15: Reunion Worrals could hear the engines of Bill's aircraft approaching. Von Brandisch is about to blow his whistle to summon his sentries so Worrals steps forward and holds him up. They are interrupted by the noise of Frecks starting up the Junkers. She tries to move the Junkers out of the runway but hits some rocks and crashes it. Brandisch takes advantage of the commotion to run away. Frecks manages to get out of the wreckage and meets Worrals. Louis also comes back--he had been down to La Malene and had volunteered as a guide for the party of German troops and had misled them to some distant valley. Bill also arrives with another load of fuel. There are six more Spitfires to go through and then he has orders to take Worrals and Frecks home. Chapter 16: The Spitfires Go Through The Spitfires just make it through--the last one departs under fire as German bombers, obviously summoned by von Brandisch begin to bomb the plateau. Bill Ashton tries to pick up Worrals and Frecks but had to perform a hasty take-off without them when enemy fighters start strafing him. Then they spot paratroops begin dropped. Chapter 17: A Route Formidable The original cave entrance had been blocked and the path to an alternate entrance had been blown up so Louis takes Worrals and Frecks down a perilous path into the gorge of the Tarn. Lucien and Raoul elect to remain in France but Worrals and Frecks plan to head for the Camargue. Worrals had mentioned to Bill that she would head there if she had trouble in the Cevennes and hoped that Bill would remember this. The Gestapo is hunting for them everywhere so Louis suggests that they avoid the roads and instead join the shepherds as they take the sheep in their annual migration through the valleys from the Cevennes to pastures in the Camargue. Chapter 18: Back to the Camargue The sheep-drive arrives at Aigues-Mortes in the Camargue. There are lots of troops and police in the town so Louis arranges for Worrals and Frecks to stay in the Tour de Constance. The locals tell them that an aircraft had arrived every night from the north, circled for a while and then departed so Worrals knows it must be Bill. Late in the night, Louis rouses Worrals and Frecks and tells them aircraft engines have been heard. He takes them out to a suitable landing ground and Worrals flashes a signal to Bill. Of course the Germans have been watching as well and converge on the landing aircraft but Worrals and Frecks manage to get away in time. Category:Plot summaries